Julie Webel, Social Media Director with Norwalk Now takes a photo of an Instagram clue for the scavenger hunt City Hunt on Tuesday April 10, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. City Hunt will allow people who download an app to rove the city performing certain tasks in order to win a prize. less

Julie Webel, Social Media Director with Norwalk Now takes a photo of an Instagram clue for the scavenger hunt City Hunt on Tuesday April 10, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. City Hunt will allow people who download an ... more

The scavenger hunt, "City Hunt" page on Julie Webel's smartphone on Tuesday April 10, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. Norwalk Now's "City Hunt" will allow people who download an app to rove the city performing certain tasks in order to win a prize. less

The scavenger hunt, "City Hunt" page on Julie Webel's smartphone on Tuesday April 10, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. Norwalk Now's "City Hunt" will allow people who download an app to rove the city performing certain ... more

NORWALK — Julie Webel leaned in close to take a picture of a textured red-and-white surface, brushing her hair away from her face so she could see clearly.

But the point of the picture was not to be too clear — to provide just enough of a hint for a savvy person to recognize.

“Too conspicuous,” Webel concluded of the image, before crouching down to try again. “They’ll know right away.”

The picture will become a clue in an upcoming citywide scavenger hunt, Norwalk City Hunt, which will take place April 28. In the lead-up to the hunt, Webel, the social media director of Norwalk Now, has begun posting tightly-cropped photographs of locations throughout the city on the account @norwalknow.

That morning, she had posted the second out of nine such clues. The out-of-focus shot showed blurred vertical lines gradating from gray to white. Four guesses had been made within the hour, almost all identifying the pattern as the corrugated metal lining the street-food restaurant El Segundo. Webel nodded as she scrolled through the comments.

Norwalk Now is part of MaxEx Public Relations, LLC, a marketing organization whose clients Webel said consist largely of restaurants in Fairfield and Westchester counties.

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Those interested in learning more about Norwalk Now can visit norwalknow.org.

But here, the marketing company has entered a partnership with the Norwalk Parking Authority in a somewhat unusual arrangement. The Parking Authority pays MaxEx to run Norwalk Now, which aims to enrich the city by promoting a coalition of the city’s businesses that have signed up for its services. The theory goes that the best way for the authority to provide support to the SoNo and Wall Street districts was to help them bring people in their doors through marketing and creative event planning.

“This business model is very unique — this particular business model hasn’t been done before,” said Linda Kavanagh, founder of MaxEx. “The Norwalk Parking Authority’s goal is to promote Norwalk. We do it by promoting the individual businesses that sign up.”

The idea is that viability of the Parking Authority goes hand-in-hand with the well-being of the nearby businesses.

“The Norwalk Parking Authority decided that parking is a critical component of economic development,” said Kathryn Hebert, director of the Norwalk Parking Authority. “And they decided it made a lot of sense to invest in the downtown districts and to increase customer activity in those districts — not only customers from Norwalk but also beyond.”

The authority has indicated it recognizes that its goals are ambitious.

“In the past, other efforts to create this kind of enterprise have been unsuccessful; failing due to inadequate financing and the inability to establish a collaborative environment,” it wrote in a statement presented to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency Tuesday evening. To ensure this project is long-lasting, the authority created a $100,000 parking program line item in its 2017 operating budget and is pledging another $100,000 in its 2018 budget (it hopes the Redevelopment Agency will sponsor an additional $50,000) and $200,000 in its 2019 budget. The money helps businesses receive MaxEx’s services at a reduced fee, $6,000 annually.

“The Parking Authority is an investor for the long term,” Hebert said. “We want to make sure that the Norwalk Now organization continues for a long time to be the marketing arm for the downtown districts and beyond.” She believes the marketing efforts to bring people in to Norwalk businesses will become especially critical during Walk Bridge construction.

So far, 25 businesses and nonprofits, including El Segundo, Killer B, the Maritime Aquarium and the Wall Street Theater, have contracted with Norwalk Now.

In addition to marketing the organizations — it boasted 144 million digital impressions from October 2017 to March — Norwalk Now also plans events, which is where the upcoming City Hunt comes in.

“We just came off of City Limits,” Kavanagh said, referring not to the world-famous Austin City Limits, but to the inaugural Norwalk City Limits that took place in January. The week-long events featured live music by local artists at Norwalk Now clients throughout the city.

“Every event that Norwalk Now does is geared toward bringing people into the businesses,” Kavanagh said.

Now, the Norwalk City Hunt aims to appeal to people of a more problem-solving bent. Those down for a challenge that will lead them through the city are invited to meet at O’Neill’s Pub & Restaurant at 10:30 a.m. April 28. A $40 entrance fee and three dozen challenges will bring participants a day of exploration ending at an after party, which awaits at a location hunters must discover themselves.

As people follow clues and complete tasks, the Norwalk City Hunt creators hope they will discover something new.